Sometimes there are people who just need to be silenced. We all know a few loudmouths who we wish would just clamp their hands over their faces and keep them there indefinitely. In England during the clashes between Catholics and Protestants it was common for the currently-out-of-favour groups to be hunted down when they tried to worship in their own ways.
They weren't just imprisoned or killed though, justice in those days was a lot more... creative and liberally adhered to. General law ruled but the local law stated that they would firstly be made to pick the person among them who was most likely to spill the locations of further hidden groups. Once they were selected all other members would take turns whispering anything they didn't want to be known to this person which could take minutes or days to fully disclose.
It was like a final confession with harsher consequences as one by one all of their hands were cut off and sewn onto and around the face of the secret keeper. Even the keeper's hands were removed and the fingers sewn to their tongue, the roof of their mouth and finally their lips. The groups were always let go after that, those without hands forced to live with their shame a public marker while the keepers were driven out, believed to now be the bearer of the group's sins.
Out of the multitude of skeletons uncovered with no hands and out of the countless records of keepers around the easterly regions of England, no bodies have been found that bear any resemblance to a keeper. No heads surrounded by finger bones, no accounts of a keeper having the hands removed from their person for the purposes of blackmail or incriminating their former companions either.
Perhaps there was a kind of deep respect for a keeper. Regardless of their religion they alone were allowed to continue their worship as they pleased, if they survived the countless complications of amputation before sterilisation, multiple facial wounds and very limited mouth access.
Perhaps it was fear that the keepers might remove the hands, unsilence themselves and tell the whole kingdom everything their companions told them. After all, those you trusted with your life nominated you to become the living embodiment of their failure to remain a secret. To become their secret.
It must hurt a great deal.
They weren't just imprisoned or killed though, justice in those days was a lot more... creative and liberally adhered to. General law ruled but the local law stated that they would firstly be made to pick the person among them who was most likely to spill the locations of further hidden groups. Once they were selected all other members would take turns whispering anything they didn't want to be known to this person which could take minutes or days to fully disclose.
It was like a final confession with harsher consequences as one by one all of their hands were cut off and sewn onto and around the face of the secret keeper. Even the keeper's hands were removed and the fingers sewn to their tongue, the roof of their mouth and finally their lips. The groups were always let go after that, those without hands forced to live with their shame a public marker while the keepers were driven out, believed to now be the bearer of the group's sins.
Out of the multitude of skeletons uncovered with no hands and out of the countless records of keepers around the easterly regions of England, no bodies have been found that bear any resemblance to a keeper. No heads surrounded by finger bones, no accounts of a keeper having the hands removed from their person for the purposes of blackmail or incriminating their former companions either.
Perhaps there was a kind of deep respect for a keeper. Regardless of their religion they alone were allowed to continue their worship as they pleased, if they survived the countless complications of amputation before sterilisation, multiple facial wounds and very limited mouth access.
Perhaps it was fear that the keepers might remove the hands, unsilence themselves and tell the whole kingdom everything their companions told them. After all, those you trusted with your life nominated you to become the living embodiment of their failure to remain a secret. To become their secret.
It must hurt a great deal.
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